Overview
- The College Football Playoff selection committee unveiled its first top-25 Tuesday night, ranking Miami No. 1 with Georgia, Utah, Indiana and Alabama rounding out the top five.
- Under the 12-team format the committee uses, the four highest-ranked teams earn byes and the highest-ranked Group-of-Six team receives an automatic berth, which in this projection is Boise State and would leave No. 12 Ohio State outside the field.
- Notre Dame sits at No. 11 in the initial poll and the committee signaled the Fighting Irish must beat No. 1 Miami this weekend to avoid slipping further from a projected at-large spot.
- The committee is using an enhanced conference-strength metric this season and that, along with resume choices like Alabama’s win over Georgia, helps explain some surprising placements such as Alabama at No. 5.
- Four top-15 matchups in Week 10 — Miami at Notre Dame, BYU at Utah, Georgia vs. Ole Miss, and Alabama at LSU — are positioned to rapidly reshape the next CFP rankings and the projected bracket.